Mara Babies

I am looking forward to sitting down and writing a longer post about December. It has flown by in a whirlwind but contained many special times and I look forward to slowing down enough to sit down and reflect and savor the memories. For now, I am cooking up a storm for a potluck. It seems fitting that it is at the home of a new friend here who brought us our first meal upon arrival. And it also seems fitting that I am making both the Mexican Brownies and the roasted tomatoes I loved so much and for which I discovered the recipes while living here.

In the meantime, I thought I'd post a series of photos from our visit to the Masai Mara this December. In August the great migration of the wildebeests dominates the scene. In December things were greener and there were so many baby animals to see, which was also wonderful.

Enjoy! And happy last day of 2010. Wishing you joy and peace in the coming year!

Zebra Baby


Giraffe Baby


Lion Babies


Hippo Baby


Rhino Baby


Elephant Baby


Cheetah Babies (3 large cubs, still with their mother)


Baboon Baby


Topi Baby


And...Blue Hoodied Brother Babies

In Light of Weather Delays...

I really did mail holiday cards in time for Chrismtas delivery. But dreams of a white Christmas apparently were answered in abundance this year and as far as I know, nary a Christmas card has arrived. I mailed Hanukkah greetings earlier and they DID make it, so yay for that!

In the meantime, here is a little sneak preview. The family picture is different on our actual card, but this was a close second, so really, this weather delay has a nice silver lining of giving me a chance to use both pictures I liked.

Happy last day of December and best wishes for a joyful new year!

Joy Magic Story Christmas 5x7 folded card

Personalize your Christmas photo cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

The Week In Review

Well, technically, the week and a half in review because a few items happened last week. But The Week in Review just has a bit more of a ring to it, don't you think?

Belated Thanksgiving wishes to all. It was bittersweet. But I think I say that in a good way, actually, because it brought about a bit of reflection. Here is the little status snippet I posted on Face.book yesterday.

"I keep not posting because I vacillate between overwhelming gratitude for so many blessings and (small, sheepish voice) feeling very homesick for family and friends! Since the latter is a sort of blessing--great to have people I love and miss, right?--I guess I will be thankful even for the tinge of blues I feel at times today. Wishing much love and a happy day of gratitude and thankful reflection to all!"

Not only were the replies to my status report very sweet and encouraging, but the process of typing out that status report made me think of the reality that it's a blessing to have people you love and miss. It's a blessing to have so many happy memories of Thanksgiving over the years. The very presence of a wistful yearning to be in the U.S. in the midst of that Thanksgiving vibe, or able to pick up the phone and speak to loved ones and not have such huge time zone differences preclude a call (or significantly shift the tenor from excited connection to groggy disbelief) are reminders that I have many blessings for which to be thankful.

And, to be sure, I have a great deal to be thankful for right here in Kisumu. I have people right here in Kisumu I already love and enjoy so much! I have experiences here that I wouldn't trade. And, I sort of feel a kinship to the spirit of that first Thanksgiving when people came to a new place and started flourishing there. Mind you, my journey has not been nearly so rugged. Still, those first six weeks or so in our new home saw many ups and downs. I sometimes joke that they lasted for years and then the following months flew by in about a week's time. I am thankful that life is so full and happy here that time zips along in a good way. I am thankful for all the strange and new things that no longer feel strange and new. I am thankful for all that I have yet to discover. I am even optimistically thankful for the day when I will be amazed that I once would not drive around here. That "once" phase is where I live now, but I am thinking positive that I am going to get the courage and confidence to do a bit of pushing myself on that front.

I am not sure how well I am articulating. The bottom line is that I spent a lot of time yesterday being grateful to God for all the places where He has taken me in the past and thankful for where He has me now. I am thankful for so many amazing people I have gotten to encounter in all those places. I am thankful for technology that lets me connect with people near and far.

And, to be sure, along with giving thanks, I also spent part of yesterday eating turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie. And so many other yummy and examples of classic American Thanksgiving fare. We joined a number of other expats and it was very nice indeed.

And, as so often occurs on this blog, I have a few anecdotes about the kidlets I want to remember.

Last week, just before bed, I had Micah and Tiras on my lap. Tiras was being fussy and Micah had been in rare form pushing my buttons that day. And I had not, alas, always been the picture of grace, wisdom, and patience in my response to that button pushing. But day's end had arrived, as it always does, and we were all three sitting on the green rocker together and I said a little bedtime prayer.

Micah and I had just been reading about Jonah and The Whale and the story talked about a second chance for Jonah and a second chance for Nineveh and after our own rocky day, I was inspired to thank God for giving second chances and helping us move forward and do better in the future and for loving us all the same. And that started a roll of thanking Him for various things, such as Daddy coming back home safely from the U.S. and Ghana, a great week at school, good friends, and how much Tiras and Micah love each other.

I was about to say Amen, but asked Micah if he wanted to thank God for something (as he does when we say dinner grace each night) and he emphatically whispered "yes!" and this is what he added: "God, I really think you are the best person in the whole world! Because you're God! And I really like this prayer we're saying to you!" It's hard to convey his earnest and sincere and effusive tone and it was just a really sweet moment. I think we both felt comforted and encouraged about the character and love and mercy of God! Nothing like a little praise to just make a grouchy and/or off day melt away! And nothing like seeing your kiddo caught up in his own love and enthusiasm for God. A very sweet moment indeed!

And, today, Micah's class performed "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" at Friday Assembly. They had made their own paper oars and were all rowing as they sang. They had on cute sailor hats and just looked generally happy and adorable. The other "Early Years" classes performed as well and if they could bottle up the cuteness and sweetness of all those little kids and the smiles of the older kids watching them along with the smiles of all the adults, well, my goodness, the world would just be all hearts and rainbows here on out! All three classes got a bit of stage fright and shyness, but the audience loved them and Micah felt just thrilled by the performance. I really did not see him moving his mouth to sing, but he was belting it out at home after school today and he remembered himself as singing. And I think it's nice that in his mind, he was happily singing and performing--it was clearly a positive experience.








As for Mr. Tiras. He makes me smile. Mind you, he has started his run of the "Terrible Twos" early and can sure throw a tantrum with the best of em. And I read a P.ublix parenting newsletter for this age range which mentions the emerging trend of hitting and Tiras is proving to be right on track with that as well. And he loves to hurl food and sippy cups to convey his displeasure at anything ranging from no longer being hungry but still sitting in his high chair to being given juice he has asked for, but in a sippy cup he has apparently not envisioned holding his beverage of choice this time around to not being understood as he emphatically speaks to us in words we don't yet interpret correctly. And those moments can feel long and my patience can feel short. And, yet, when I think of Tiras, I just smile. There is something about that lumbering walk and bruiser swagger and happy giggle that just grabs my heart. And, of course, the daily snuggles into my shoulder with that sweet little head pretty much melt my heart.

Though I earlier alluded to words he uses which we do not correctly interpret, there are some new words we are successfully identifying. He now tells us to "See, See!" and/or "Look!" at "burps" (birds). And yes, I am apparently an eight year old boy at heart because that makes me crack up every time. (Hee, hee, he said burps!) Must be genetic because whenever Tiras actually does burp, he looks at me and cracks up. It's like he KNOWS my secret sense of humor already. There were other words this week, but as I sit to type this I realize that "burp" has eclipsed them all for me. Oh well...

Big news for Tiras last week was that he had his first haircut. Micah had the very good idea of doing a brother haircut wherein he would go first so that Tiras could see how it all worked and be less afraid. Tiras watched with rapt attention and seemed quite happy and calm. When Micah was finished, Tiras seemed to sit in my lap with happy readiness. If you have spotted the operative word "seems", good on you. As soon as the smock went on, the tears flowed. The tears did not stop until the haircut was over and he and I were out of that chair. He did manage to give the hair stylist a smiley high five, so evidently there were no lingering hard feelings.

Will leave you with some closing shots of Tiras getting his first haircut. Deron and I will try and get a more chipper shot of him tomorrow as well as one where you can see the new look he is sporting. Will also leave you with wishes for a very happy weekend!

Added A Few Photos

I went back to a couple of June and September entries and added photos. I am just getting the hang of formatting options and have not yet figured out how to change up the order or the layout if it turns out less than stellar, as you will see.

Still, it's an exciting beginning!

Edited to add that I just keep adding photos as I see thematically and chronologically fit. I am REALLY having fun here! I may be inundating the internet with blog entries now that I have this fun new feature working for me!

"See, See!"

"See, See" is the refrain that echoes through our compound these days because that is what Tiras says several hundred times each day. He especially likes us to "see see" things in the sky.

*

Sometimes he will say "See! See ant!" And sure enough, he will be pointing to an ant. While we have a range of sizes of ants in our compound and while they all seem to send an occasional representative or two on quests into our home, we are fortunate to have very genteel ants. None of those biting fire ants or safari ants for us so far. And I hope it will stay that way because those biters sting! Here's hoping that by typing that in the Blog I don't have to soon eat my words and fend off the biters!

*

In general Tiras is talking up a storm! He loves to use new words and seems to be gaining them by the day. "Indow" (window) is a newly acquired word Tiras seems to particularly savor saying! He also has started saying "Micah" rather than just "Cah" and this has proven to be a source of great delight to Micah, who is intent upon teaching Tiras to now say Micah James.

*

And Micah has his own special way of "see see"ing lately. If he really likes something he is viewing, he will announce "I'm going to take a picture of that." He will then make a clicking camera noise and capture the image in his mind forever with his brain camera. The other day he beckoned me, "Mama, come and see this grasshopper!" Out on our entryway was a beautiful green grasshopper. I was just thinking how great it was that Micah appreciates nature with so much enthusiasm when he busted the brain camera move. And it touches my heart every time!

*

And, oh my goodness, I can barely concentrate on typing any more news and text until I say "See! See! I learned how to post an image!!!" And it seems fitting to give you the setting of our blog tales. Pictured above is our compound. Our home is the unit on the right of the duplex pictured above.

*

To the right you can see the shadow of the one stand-alone home on the compound. Living there is a couple with grown children and they are great with the boys. Tiras makes several trips a day to their front steps. Cement steps he insists on climbing. And our neighbor always comes out to visit with us when one of these climbing sessions is underway. Even when it is early in the morning and she is having coffee and still in PJs. She's that kind of friend and neighbor. And she sure does take time to get to know my boys and what they are like and what they like. She has planted various veggies and recently went out of her way to share seeds with Micah so he could do the same. She also showed him the first squash to grow on the thriving squash vine she cultivated from a seed! She likes science and seems to anticipate well what will be magic to a science fan like Micah. She also came to the Friday morning assembly at Micah's school to see him presented with a certificate for being a student of the week for reading.

*

Behind the photographer is the other duplex on the compound. This is the home of the other two CDC families. This is where I ate just about every night Deron was away in the U.S. and Ghana for a conference and meeting. This is where I watched my boys lavished with love and smiles. This is where I watched my boys giggle and laugh with their beloved buddy, Aria. This is where I was kept far too busy and happy to ever have much time to feel lonely while Deron was gone.

*

And the couple residing in the other side of our duplex are very nice as well! They just arrived here fairly recently and both have had some travel, so we don't see them quite as much yet, but always encounter warm smiles. Plus, they have added two more doted upon dogs to the compound. What's not to love about an elderly pug named Pudgy and the frisky and ever-jumping beagel puppy named Harley?!

*

This, right now, is home. And come Thursday, I will be giving thanks for the blessing of my friends and family far away and for all the ways technology helps soften the blow of that distance and I will also be giving thanks for this wonderful and warm community which has become like a family to us here in Kisumu. We are blessed indeed!

*

Note: I could not get spaces between paragraphs and since it looked like an overwhelming blob to my eye, I tried several ways to get those spaces and settled on the asterisk approach. For those of you who "follow" the blog, I hope you don't get an alert for every time I edit or you probably have about 10 for this entry alone!

November Hello!

Note: On November 21, I added some images from our expat Halloween! Many thanks to Grandma for sending us costumes and Aunt Kimmy for sending us Halloween candy from home. Skittles and Tootsie Rolls do great in the mailing process!

It is NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and the idea is to post every day of the month including weekends. Well, in honor of NaBloPoMo, I figure I will endeavor to at least post ONCE this month. Wry smile. Blah blah blah internet down and blah blah blah busy with kiddos and all the usual reasons for falling way behind.

I do miss blogging more regularly. I have had the distinct delight of finding out good friends have been reading my blog and it makes me feel so connected to you to know you are out there reading this from time to time! Plus, I like the idea of having a little record of our family's time here in Kenya and here in toddler/preschooler mode for the boys to read later (and for me and Deron when the details so crisp and pronounced now start to inevitably fade a bit).

It's been a happy time. Because I have let so much time go by between posts, we have yet another bullet format update.

• In October Micah started really making some breakthrough progress in his swim class. He was concerned about drowning for a while there, but finally trusted Teacher Mark enough to spread his wings and fly, or swim as the case may be. It's been a number of years since he took his first steps in our New York appartment, but I do believe my thrill at seeing that face in the water, arms reaching overhead, and legs kicking was as acute here and now as it was back then. I realize walking is such a huge developmental milestone, but there is something about seeing my baby boy SWIMMING all on his own that just seems so incredibly capable and independent and as if he is plunging into the outside world. It is thrilling to me!


• Tiras is like a little toddler version of an extreme sports athlete. It's not enough to climb tall cement steps, which has my heart in my throat more often than not, but I am learning to hover close and yet give him enough space to try out new skills. No, it is not simply enough to insist on making an obsession out of climbing up and down the most precarious spots on the compound; once he masters these steps he has to start swinging his arms as if to jump and, at a minimum, to make balancing more difficult. I haven't found new grey hairs yet, but we shall see what I am looking like when he rings in birthday number two!


• Tiras is talking more and more. I think I am going to have quite a chatterbox when we share more words from the same lexicon. For now, it is so fun to see his delight as he uses a new word and looks at my face for a reaction. He also makes me laugh with all his pretend phone calls. These can take place with my cell phone, a shoe, his hand, really just about anything. They start with a hearty "hello" and have a pretty animated middle content (though this is where the differing lexicon limits my ablity to fully appreciate all that is going on) and end with a "goodbye". One morning I heard him chattering away in his crib and came in to discover him in the middle of one of these phone conversations. He smiled brightly at me but kept talking to his hand/phone and I swear the smile looked as if he were trying to say "good morning--so great to see you mom--but I really have to take this call". It is rather hilarious.


• Micah received a certificate at one of his school's Friday assemblies recently. I thought he was going to be too shy to even stand up. Instead, he walked up to the head teacher and I swear he puffed out his little chest and just beamed at all his schoolmates, teachers, parents etc out in the audience as the head teacher explained that Micah was reading three letter words. He was thrilled and delighted and I got such a kick out of how much he enjoyed being the center of attention. Did not see that coming based on how shy he can be in group settings.


• While we do not have crisp weather, gold, crimson, and orange leaves, jaunty pumpkins, or other traditional signs of autumn here, we DO have an expat community which celebrated Halloween in style. There was trick or treating on a couple of the Embassy compounds here followed by a potluck dinner party at our compound. The kids were SUPPOSED to get to watch It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown but the DVD did not work. This DVD was provided for the occasion by yours truly. Yes, I do have a teaching background in which I was trained to test every single audio visual before class time. No, I did not do this because I did not think our brand new boxed set of Charlie Brown holiday DVDs would contain any defective DVDs. Yes, I did assume and yes I do remember what happends when one assumes. Yes, the defective DVD did have to be the one DVD which we needed for a group of kids hopped up on sugar who had been successfully corraled into one place and were now impatiently waiting for this great movie they had been promised. Yes, I have learned my lesson! (I have also ordered a replacement and Micah watched it yesterday and had a giant grin on his face! How fun is it to see my kiddo watching what I watched as a kid?! I tried to explain how we did not have DVDs and so we could only see this cartoon when it came on television once a year. I explained how everybody would be home watching it at the same time and how it was really special. Micah seemed pleased to have the DVD option!)


• We have plans for a big expat Thanskgiving gathering next week! Looking forward to it. Still, I cannot actually believe it is already November. Time is truly flying by!


• My history books and Schoolhouse Rock DVDs have arrived and I am really excited about both. The latter brings back so many memories. The history series is really great. It's by Scholastic and is the If You Were There series. I love the format and it contains a lot of information. Micah loves the Schoolhouse Rock videos. "Interjections", "Interplanet Janet", and "The Shot Heard Round the World" seem to be his favorites right now. Which is a nice range of grammar, science, and social studies now that I type this out!

Here endeth today's writing. I may try and jump on the NaBloPoMo bandwagon late and do some daily posts. I think it might be fun later to have slices of life reported that consistently. Recognizing, of course, that some slices of life might be "could not post yesterday because internet was down every time I sat down to computer."

And to all a good night!

Wonderful Wednesday!

The day started with a very cheerful baby Tiras, which is not always the case. He seems to just instinctively bolt to his feet when he wakes and start fussing and hollering for us to come get him. To walk into his room and find him smiling and cooing in the crib was a delight.

And, for our fourth week in a row, my two compound neighbors and I have gone on a fun outing. Today we hit the craft market. There are so many wonderful wood carvings, stone carvings, pieces of jewelry, and etc. I intentionally brought along only a small amount of money with the intent to purchase handmade cards and only handmade cards. I ended up borrowing money from one of my neighbors so I could purchase some stone carvings that really grabbed me. Also, I am really horrible at bargaining. Really. Horrible. But, like my deficiency in driving courage, my lack of bargaining prowess helps the local economy. So there's that.

I also have some successes on the cooking front. Over the weekend, I discovered I had some plum tomatoes that needed to be used up. Thanks to the Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics cookbook, I made the most delicious tomatoes I have ever eaten. Bar none. These tomatoes were roasted with a bit of balsamic vinegar (plus olive oil, sea salt, sugar, and pepper) and were so very delish. The tomato drippings started smoking up our kitchen and we had to race around opening windows so as not to set off the fire alarms. At one point Micah ran out to inform the guards that we had smoke in the kitchen but everything was o.k. However, his reassurance had the unintended (but forseeable to me as I raced out behind him) consequence of actually alarming the guards and I had to explain that we were just cooking and there was smoke from the cooking and Micah just wanted them to know we were o.k. They looked a little startled and skeptical, but no further drama ensued. And, all's well that ends well, which is to say that I was not alone in my tomato love--Deron declared the recipe well worth the smoke filled kitchen and looked forward to having them again!

We also tried another Food Network slow cooker recipe, this time a Chinese style rice soup (or jook) and, using some of the commenter suggestions to guide me, I had our family savoring a very gingery and delicious soup which garnered high, high praise from Micah, who wanted to eat it for breakfast this morning. Thanks to Ina Garten, I have also learned that it is not just my imagination that my poached chicken is rather dry. She also seems to share the opinion that roasted chicken is a zillion times yummier than poached, so I roasted the chicken for this soup and it was soooooo good.

Also on the food front, our compound received a flier from a local organic produce grower who makes home deliveries. How many happy dances can I possibly convey on this blog entry. Add one more because having fresh herbs and veggies and fruits delivered to my house on a weekly basis will be so great! Especially since they are growing some produce like red leaf lettuce and snow peas and strawberries! (which range from not easy to impossible to come by out here thus far)

And on the mom/school front, how much am I loving having a kiddo in Pre-K? This is such a fun stage! Micah loves doing number and letter worksheets and loves to practice cutting and it is so fun to watch his joy and enthusiasm. I even have fun ordering Kumon workbooks for him because I know how excited he is about doing them. Yesterday, I worked on the budget and he happily worked alongside me on his school materials and he is so proud of his accomplishments! It it is pure joy to behold!

I also ordered him his first set of personalized pencils AND I got a Preschool through 12th Grade School Days memory book for Micah and for Tiras. My mom had such a memory book for me and for my sister when we were growing up and, while this is not the exact same version, it is the same premise and I am just so elated to be starting this adventure with Micah and so excited to imagine filling those pages with all the experiences yet ahead. What will he love? What subjects will be his passion? What friendships and fun moments await?

Also in the realm of education, I may be tutoring one of the fellow expat kiddos in U.S. history since that is not covered here. I ordered a number of really promising looking books and also the Schoolhouse Rocks DVD with the history snippets. I am excited to share these materials with Micah as well and think he will enjoy them. I am really looking forward to doing some lesson planning and teaching.

This past Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving (and our local Nakumatt carried frozen turkey breast and drumsticks in honor of the occasion). While I am not myself Canadian, I surely have had a week filled with many thankful moments!

Micah Moments and Tiras Tidings

I think it is safe to say that Micah likes school. Parents from the early years right up on through high school are invited to join their kids for lunch each day. In Micah's case, lunch is after the end of his school day, so we eat lunch and head home. He has been opting to hang around his older friends longer and longer each day. Today, when we finally headed home, he had a somewhat downcast demeanor. Why so glum? Had something gone awry at school? No, far from it. He was sad he had to leave and proceeded to explained to me that he wished he were Year One (equivalent of Kindergarten) so that he could stay a full day. And a couple days ago, he expressed abject horror upon learning that they had a week of vacation for "half term" at the end of October. Yes, the boy likes school very much. He seems to enjoy his teacher and the schoolwork, but the favorite part of school is all the good friends he has there, ranging in age from two to almost eight. Have I mentioned that I love how the kids intermingle across class levels at this school? Love it! And the high schoolers are so friendly and gentle with the younger kids. It's really, really great!!!!

In othe Micah news, and passing along something that amused me a bit, I was recently in the dog house with Micah. Allow me to share the conversation I overheard between Micah and Daddy at the dining room table after dinner:
M: I'm so disappointed.
D: Why?
M (archly): I think you know. (this line, in particular, cracked me up)
M (continues as Daddy feigns ignorance): It starts with MOM and (upon my entry to the dining room, he hesitates, but then continues, undeterred) ends with she made me go places I didn't want to go. Twice.
D (amused): Wait a minute. It starts with Mom and ends with her making you go some place you didn't want to go. What's in the middle?
M: In the middle, I was very, very mad.
(End on two parents laughing)

I must have fairly quickly fallen out of disfavor because when Micah learned I was resting on the couch with a stomach ache, he hurried over and asked to take a look at my tummy. After having a look, he suggested that he might rub my tummy and see if that made it feel any better. He then said, "And if that doesn't work, tell me and I'll come up with another solution." (I was touched by how sweet he was and also a little bemused and bowled over by the use of "solution". He is so my little four going on forty kiddo at times!)

As for Tiras, wow! He is getting so big and independent. He managed to grow two molars without my realizing it until they had broken through! He is exuberant and active and loves to go "side" (outside) after requesting "shoe" (as in, please fetch and then put on my shoes so we can get this show on the road!)

I will leave you with this parting image, which Deron and I find adorable. At grace each night, Micah closes us out with a special thanks to God. One night he thanked God for making space and for making space so big. A lot of the items are really sweet and touching! Meanwhile, Tiras has started joining us. There is so much cuteness in seeing a little guy fold his hands and close his eyes and then mumble away in his own little language while we are saying grace. It was all his own idea, not something we have been urging him to do. Very sweet! Very cute!

I Have Not Driven A Car In Over 4 Months!

And I suspect I probably will not be driving a car any time soon! We only just got our car in early September and Deron takes it to work most days,so it's not like I have had weeks and weeks to be learning some driving skills in Kisumu. But that only accounts for a teeny, tiny fraction of the reason why I have not driven here. I look at the pedestrians, tuk tuks, boda bodas (bicycles), and occasional cows and goats and the way they freely (make that capriciously if you factor in the mattatus!) move in and around the street upon which I would be driving and I just can't get the nerve to climb into our giant SUV and join them lest I end up bumping into one of them! And, hey, every time I take a taxi to the grocery store or a tuk tuk to Bible Study or on another errand, I am helping the local economy. So that is laudable. Yes, my timidity serves the local community well financially! Or something like that. I realize I need to conquer this fear and get behind the wheel at some point. Everyone suggests driving SLOWLY and I can certainly manage that. But I am none too excited about it. None too excited at all!

Living here amazes me in that in just a few months I feel so at home. I feel like we are exactly where we are meant to be and I can't imagine my life WITHOUT having come to live here now. Had anyone tried to convince me that I would be typing such a sentiment on my blog, I would have nodded, smiled politely, and utterly dismissed the notion as well intended but epically inaccurate.

Which is not to say that life here is without challenges. I still find myself just wanting to pick up the phone or send a text message to family and friends in the U.S. and have them receive it in live time. The massive time difference and massive cost and technological limitations of my phone make that a no go. BUT, there is Skype and that is hugely helpful. Having internet be so very erratic and slow is also a challenge and frustration at times. Living in a cash society can be challenging. However, I can see Dave Ramsey's* point about spending less when you use cash. While it's true that there are less places to do shopping here and I have much less ease to hop in a car and go shopping, there is also something about having only the money in your pocket that tends to limit impulse buys. Also in the category of challenges, there seems to be a huge net effect to the incremental increase it takes to get basic things done that finds me often feeling like my to do list is just a wishful fantasy that won't see fulfillment until I am back in the U.S. And don't even get me started on my frustrations with the maintenance of this blog. It turns out that having inspiration, time without kiddos underfoot, AND an obliging and working internet all conspire together is more elusive than one might think. I will have these blog topics and posts composed in my head which, naturally, sound eloquent, witty, interesting, and riveting whilst in my head, evaporate to nothing once a few days of not being able to type them out go by.

But despite challenges and affronts to the Type A portion of my personality, there are so many grace notes and moments that eclipse all that. There are two women on my compound who are at home during the day, just as I am. We have started "Wonderful Women Wednesdays" and have gone out for coffee at the one coffee shop in town (and it's quite good!), had lunch at the Nyanza Club across the way, and had beauty treatments in town (a much needed pedicure and haircut for me! And before you snort derisively about a much needed pedicure, my heels could snag the mosquito net when I sat down for that pedi! They are exposed to way more dust and dirt here and the least I can do is give them a bit of pampering from time to time!). It's been really great and we are all in different seasons of life, so that's a fun dimension to have too. I also have joined a wonderful, wonderful women's Bible Study that meets each Thursday. We just started a study of Daniel and it's wonderful because if you know your Daniel, you know that he and his friends trusted God through EVERYTHING and it's surely inspiring and reassuring stuff to read!

I have also been spending a chunk of internet time on the Food Network website. Along with the amazing brownies I posted about in August, I have also discovered a delicious green tea based apple and mint punch. It tastes so light and fresh and is wonderfully refreshing! We also made a slow cooker Korean inspired beef and noodle soup this weekend and it had lots of flavor, was easy to make, AND used ingredients we can actually get here. I came to Kisumu with nary a cookbook and with visions of plunging in to the local cuisine and learning to cook from the cook we would hire. Well, there's not a terriby extensive cuisine in Kenya, turns out. And our cook, Rose, has asked me for cookbooks and recipes. So, while we have tried a couple traditional dishes, that is not going to hold us for 365 days a year and it turns out things are a bit different than I expected. Food Network is an investment of time, rather than money. (And I note the latter having frantically purchased Kenyan magazines for their recipes and some cookbooks from home I thought might work. While I got SOME workable options from the U.S. cookbooks, it's amazing how many ingredients show up that are so easy to get in the U.S. and so NOT an option nor easily substituted with other ingredients here.)

But speaking of those Kenyan magazines purchased for recipes. While the recipes, for various reasons, were a bust, (I noticed a certain vague quality to the ingredient list and directions that even Rose could not make heads nor tails of, for example.) the magazines were a giant success when it came to giving me some glimpses of culture. I really LOVED getting to read articles in the voices of insiders. I learned about health issues, for example, since my New African Woman magazine was devoted to health in September and October. I learned, for example, that there is a stigma to having TB and how one South African television personaity who contracted TB is fighting that stigma and on a crusade to make care and information accessible to all. I learned about another woman's crusade against female circumcision. I read a lighter article about protecting one's marriage. Regarding advice not to pester spouse with a zillion phone calls when he is having time and space with friends, the article quoted a man as thinking about taking a second wife so he could tell his wife he was with her when he was actually out with the guys and he could just enjoy their company in peace. Now, I gotta say, I surely never encountered such a scenario in any articles on relationships in U.S. magazines. There were also book reviews on books all written by African women. It wasn't that I got PhD level sociological insight into modern women of Africa by reading the magazine, but it was so many little details and little insights and I really thrilled to that. I am not sure how well I am articulating all that adequately. I suppose it's the thrill of learning something new and having a glimpse into the small (and not so small) details that are part of familiar life for many here, but all new to me.

Am now hoping to grab a shower before Tiras awakes. Still no pump to give us water pressure, but we do have hot water back after a week without, so I am happy. It is well here!




*Dave Ramsey hosts a really great radio talk show about managing one's money wisely. I liked, in particulalr, one ad campaign where he had the phrase "Act your wage."

Catching Up!!!

Note: Edited to add that on November 21, I finally added some photos. Above are some scenes from Micah's first day of school. That's him "looking smart" in his uniform. I have come to find out that for the Kenyan sensibility, this uniform is rather casual and come next September, the kiddos will be sporting uniforms with a much more traditional British look.

Greetings All!!!

Well, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men...I HAD planned to post pictures from our Mara trip and then go back and add pictures to other previous updates. And I HAD thought that would be really doable and a really good record for us to have. BUT, between erratic internet connections and massive volume of work for Deron (who is my photo connection), the photos have not happened.

And, there has also been a dearth of any kind of posting whatsoever because, just for added fun and excitement, a lightning strike fried our router leaving us with only one computer with internet access. I am usually too busy with the boys (and recently leaks and water pressure and pump issues necessitating repair crew visits have been added to the mix) to get online during the day. And, due to the aforementioned massive volume of work for Deron, come night when kidlets are down, top priority goes to Deron tackling work stuff. Which means not much time for me to blog lately and I have missed it!

I miss posting because it really does feel like a connection to those who are so far away. So now, as Tiras naps, I am going to do a massive bullet catch-up post:

• Micah had a very good first day and has continued to have good days at his new school.



• The school is British and there are two "houses", called Tilapia and Perch. The whole house thing is just like Harry Potter--well, short of the sorting hat and the cool train and candies and photos that move and all that, but I was all kinds of grins when the two houses were introduced at the first assembly and only just barely managed to avoid blurting out loudly, "Like Harry Potter--how cool is that?!!!".



• One of their school rules states "Do look smart in your school uniform" and if I thought "grubby" was charming on the laundry detergent box, you can bet I thought that particular rule was delightful!



• The teachers, all being Kenyan, speak British English. Micah came home singing a new song for me and, while he still speaks conversationally with an American accent, he was happily singing the chorus just as it had been taught to him, "Peetah, Pattah, Raaaaindrawps". I am not sure if he even knows he is singing "Pitter Patter". It's pretty cute.



• Tiras is a fearless and physical little kiddo and keeping him in one piece is still a big part of my day. He is also a very jolly kiddo and has made a new friend who is only a few months older than he. She has siblings at school with Micah and Tiras and I have enjoyed having playdates with her and with her mom. Nice for Tiras to have a buddy his age and very nice for me to have another at home mom friend around during the days!



• Tiras is adding more and more words to his vocabulary and DEFINITELY comprehends a whole lot more of what we are saying than it seemed he used to grasp before. While "no" and "uh un" reign supreme as favorite words in his little lexicon, "shoe" is very imporant to him as well. (Perhaps because it usually means getting to go outside and run around? Or maybe he just has a little Carrie Bradshaw in him because sometimes he is happy just to sit on the sofa and have me place shoes on his feet. He seriously BEAMS over having his shoes put on!)



• He has recently added "gook" (book) and "gulk" (milk) to his vocabulary. I am happy to report that he is still saying "thike you" (thank you) as well. And every now and then, on rare occasion, we might once again hear "yes", one of his first words but one that was so utterly eclipsed by the joy of saying "no" that it is hard to believe he ever once answered yes to anything resembling a question, even when not addressed to him.



• We went away this past weekend with several other families and drove through the hills and passed fields of sugar cane. Once at our destination, Kwiesos House, there were many beautiful views to drink in and there was fun to be had such as horseback riding and swimming by a waterfall. I love all the chances Micah has to be adventurous here. It just seems like a great place to be a kid and it's exciting and wonderful to watch his delight as he fords a little stream, or navigates a steep hill on his own. One of my favorite memories was watching Micah running across the grounds with the other kids kicking a soccer ball. Their ages ranged from two and a half to almost eight and they were having so much fun together. Smiling faces and the full and sincere laughs of kiddos at play are among the most wonderful things to behold and to hear, I think. It was simple and outdoor fun and I love that Micah has so much of that here.



• Here is a link to the brochure for this wonderful retreat!http://www.homalime.com/Kwiesos_House_Brochure.pdf



• In other news, Deron rang in a new decade this month. I rang in my 40th with a six week old baby last year and this year Deron rang in his 40th on a new continent. Pretty wonderful ways to kick off our 40s! We are thankful indeed!



• Speaking of aging and time and such, I just saw in the comments that my friend since kindergarten, Julie, has a daughter who attended a middle school dance!!! Julie and I were attending OUR first middle school (although back then it was called "junior high" and grades 7 and 8) dance seconds ago, weren't we?! And though I suppose I realize that that was indeed ages ago, at the same time, it is so close in memory. Blows me away sometimes as our kids hit these milestones!!!



• After the Mara, we had occasion to stop in Nairobi and stayed at Tribe again and it is just so gorgeous there! AND, we went to the shopping center next store and visited Dorman's Coffee. I had a Masala Mocha and I am STILL dreaming of another cup and just looking for an excuse to trek to Nairobi again!!! The ginger with the chocolate and mocha is sooooo yummy!!! I am thinking of emailing Pe.et's Coffee to suggest they add it to their line-up because it seems like something they would appreciate and handle really well!



• As for the Mara, I don't think I can do the experience justice with just words. If you are Face.book friends with either Deron or me, Deron posted an album with lots of great captions and you can access that album on either one of our profile pages. You can also email me for a link to the album if you don't have a FB account and want to check them out.



• Sorry for the lack of edit that is going to this post. If it reads like a breathless burst of chatter, well, it's cuz I am frantically typing before heading out to pick up Micah and part of me wants to get the memories down before I lose any more detail than I have already lost by being so sporadic in my updates. (Not because I think you all are at the edge of your seats enthralled by my every word, but because I think it will be a nice family memory to have for us years down the road when we are no longer in Kenya and the small details might othewise get lost forever. And I want to remember. I want to remember Kenya and I want to remember the boys at this stage.)

Happy September to all! Autumn has ALWAYS been my favorite season and it's about to hit with all its crisp, football filled, gold, crimson, and orange hued awesomeness soon! Enjoy!!!

Another Short Update

Note: Added a few shots on November 21. I thought a few iconic animals as well as a couple photos typifying the boys would do well here. Micah was entranced and eagerly scanned the horizon with Daddy's binoculars. Tiras snuggled with Mommy and often snoozed during our game drives.


We are back from our adventure on the Maasai Mara and more details will follow on that, but for now the following summary will have to suffice: spectacular, breathtaking, amazing place!

Micah starts school tomorrow (actually, later this morning as I have stayed up reconciling our cash expenditures in Kenyan shillings with my bank records--it became an addictive quest). He's noted that he is a little nervous. He loved his old class and teachers and I am sure this year will be great for him as well, but I'll be happy for him to have the newness factor and unknown behind him.

Our last shipment of belongings arrived. We have been busily unpacking and getting settled ever since. Given that more than three months have elapsed since we did that packing and given that some items were suitcase bound, others in the air ship, and still others designated for storage, we had actually forgotten a lot of what might be arriving. There's still a goodly amount left to do, but between the happy reunion with my file cabinet and the difference a couple rugs make in upping the comfort and coziness factor, a sense of "home" is within sight!

One last item arrived Sunday...our long awaited car!!! It was so rainy here today that we didn't venture out for an inaugural drive, but Deron is most pleased to be driving himself to work in his own vehicle come tomorrow.

Happy remainder of Labor Day!

Visitors, and Photos, and Safaris, Oh My!

Our first visitors arrive tomorrow, and we are quite thrilled! We are off to the Mara and then to Mombasa. Updates to follow. Hoping to include photos in the near future as well!

Thanks for your comments and emails and FB posts--you have no idea how much they mean!

16 Years Ago Today...

I met Deron. And my whole life changed. We could never have guessed what the next 16 years would hold on that day we were just meeting. And I could never ,ever have imagined gratitude and thankfulness and joy beyond words such as I feel today.

My cup runneth over.

Truly.

Aaron Sanchez, Our Hero (The Recipe and Euphoric Rambling About Said Recipe Post)

Who is Aaron Sanchez, you might ask? And why the hero status? Well, this past Friday we had a goodbye party for our compound neighbors who are off to the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. We knew they'd be leaving come August, but it still came too fast and we are all going to miss them. Thusly, it was necessary to send them off in style and the compound hosted a party with a Latin cooking theme.

There were taco shells that had been purchased in Nairobi; there was salsa and guacamole; there were refried beans, enchiladas and a taco fixings bar and many other yummy, yummy foods. I made a kid version of sangria (alcohol free) and I also made Mexican Brownies. And this where Wonderful, Genius Aaron Sanchez comes in. My brownies were courtesy of a recipe of The Food Network's Aaron Sanchez and they were DELICIOUS--this is a wonderful recipe and that is why he is a hero! (Note: While living here makes me acutely aware of how fortunate we are just to be well fed each day, my taste buds do sometimes crave things we can't get here--like salsa and Mexican foods. Hence the excited post. But please don't think I have lost sight of the reality that we are so lucky to be able to eat all we need!)

It took some doing to secure the cocoa powder. We have exactly one unsweetened cocoa powder option and it is in the drinking cocoa section at Nakumatt rather than the baking section. I initially scoured the baking section and surmised that bar chocolate must be all that was available for baking and thus sadly conceded defeat and headed home with plans to contribute sosmething else to the party. After some asking around, I was told to try the drinking cocoa section for the Cadbury unsweetened cocoa contained therein. It took me two trips to get my ingredients, but Cadbury did right by me with their unsweetened cocoa option and thus we have a happy case of all's well that end's well.

I followed the recipe to the letter, right down to using a wooden spoon, and the result was a really chewy and fudgy and YUMMY brownie. I think this is the only brownie recipe I will ever use again!!! And I certainly won't be going back to the box (even when boxes brownie mixes are again an option).

There is cinnamon and a hint of cayenne pepper (the latter just adds a little warmth to the end of the brownie bite) as an homage to Mexican style chocolate and it is really good and it was REALLY satisfying to be able to bake this here. I have been craving baked goods and cheese lately because they are a bit hard to come by and between this brownie and splurging on Edam cheese at the deli section of Nakumatt, I have had a really, really nice fix!!!

I have included the recipe here, in case my excited ramblings inspire brownie cravings in my readership! :-) Also, so that I can always access it! I suspect that today might include a trip to Nakumatt for more butter so we can make another batch!

Aaron Sanchez's Mexican Brownies
Recipe courtesy Aaron Sanchez for Food Network Magazine
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aaron-sanchezs-mexican-brownies-recipe/index.html
Serves:
18 brownies

Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup good-quality unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground Mexican cinnamon (canela)
1/4 teaspoon pequen chili powder or cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides. Press the paper into the corners of the pan and lightly grease the paper with butter.

Melt the 2 sticks of butter in a nonstick saucepan over medium-low heat; do not boil. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla to the saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

Add the cocoa, flour, cinnamon, chili powder, salt and baking powder and mix until smooth.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out fudgy, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack, then use the parchment paper to lift out the brownies before slicing

Life's Little Joys

I woke up just dog tired Saturday. I'd been having insomnia bouts during the week and it all seemed to come crashing down on me Saturday morning. I love my boys and we yearned and prayed for those boys for years, a reality of which I have not lost sight. Still, overflowing thankfulness or no, when sleep deprived, the energy to keep up with those two very active boys can be lacking. And thus Saturday found me a wee bit grumpy.

You know what quells grumpy? Kid cuteness. Grumpy just cannot prevail in the face of kid cuteness. So I am posting this to capture these moments:

• I was in the (very messy) playroom with the boys and Micah came over to me with his etch-a -sketch and told me he had drawn exactly what we needed to clean up the room. There I beheld a robot vacuum. Micah excitedly pointed out the three wheels on his robot and showed me his two hands and explained that there were two more just like it on the other side. My favorite part? Micah explained that after vacuuming everything up, the robot would then "spit everything out just where it belongs." Upon learning I could not purchase such a robot anywhere, Micah then proceeded to cheerily pick up all his building blocks. Without even being asked.
• As if the robot vacuum were not enough, Micah then came back to me with the etch-a-sketch and he had designed a hidden picture search for me. Because his artistic phase has been abstract (but very intricate to my eye), imagine my surprise to see a very realistic toilet plunger hidden in and amongst other shapes. The cuteness of Micah copying the hidden picture searches he enjoys in his High Five magazines, and the surprise that he can draw such realistic objects, and the amusement that he chose a plunger of all things (and knows what a plunger does) all conspired to chase away any and all grouchiness.
• Tiras can give a big grin and laugh that is just infectious. But what I also love is his look of delight that is not interactive, but just Tiras caught up in the awe and enjoyment of a moment. I was holding him and putting lotion on his back and tummy and he was very interested in the lotion, so I put a tiny dollop on his hand and he gazed down at the lotion on his hand with such a pleased and interested smile. I love that look!
• Another grace note of the day was finding myself in the middle of a cross breeze. Nothing like a gentle lake breeze unexpectedly whispering a bit of cool into the day!

Happy moments. I may not be able to articulate them in a way that does them justice. But I hope they will trigger the memory for me down the road when my kidlets are no longer wee kidlets.

Friday This and That

Note: Adding several images of the boys doing their swim lessons with Teacher Mark in August since I first mentioned their swim lessons in this blog entry. In October, Micah swam by himself for the first time. There is also a video at the end of this post depicting Micah happily going under the water, which was a big breakthrough for him at the time!

*

We are all breathing a big sigh of relief at the peaceful election that occurred here Wednesday. There is an interesting article in the New York Times for any interested in reading a bit more about what has been afoot here. August 4 may prove to be a very historic day for Kenya.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/world/africa/06kenya.html?_r=1&ref=africa

Micah started swim lessons this week and really likes his teacher. We started with semi-private hour long lessons with our neighbor and switched it up yesterday to a half hour private lesson for each kidlet. They both did really well with the new format and Micah announced to me yesterday, "Mark's a really good swim teacher." Tiras is scheduled to start his swim lessons next week. He LOVES the water and is ready to dive in even now, so I think swim lessons could prove to be a huge hit with him.

Speaking of Tiras, he is over his diaper changing antics. His energies are now directed to adamant self feeding. It's a messy time, but he is surely determined to get this skill. He also says "thank you" on such a regular basis, which is cute. (He pronounces it: Thike You!) He also said "walk, walk" the other day and headed over to his stroller. I was quick to oblige the request and off we went on a walk outside the compound. So exciting to have him using words. He is really a fun and jolly little kiddo. He thinks it is hilarious to hide from me in the curtains, etc. His other passion is kicking the ball around. Last week, a couple of our daytime guards would kick the ball to him and he would just giggle and run all over dribbling the ball with his feet. Hard to believe he was just CRAWLING when we arrived and now he runs around like he's in the World Cup!

Micah is such a fun and sweet mix of old soul and exuberant kiddo. He loves playing with other kids and I think he is going to really enjoy having school start in September and getting to meet even more peers. He has suddenly started saying "antimals" for animals and airily dismisses my pronunciation corrections with, "Well, that's how I say it." He also made me laugh today when he finished macaroni and cheese at lunch (brought back from Atlanta by Deron and dubbed "Atlantic Macaroni and Cheese" by Micah) and with utter delight and glee said he was going to be chubby like Winnie the Pooh!!! His joy and exuberance is just infectious and I wish I had a video camera running all the time so I could capture that big smile and the dancing eyes.

Deron remains really busy with work, but is out in the field today and always loves getting those opportunities, so the week is ending on a particularly satisfying note for him. As for me, there have been many happy moments this week. Today, I am proud of myself for a) finally breaking down boxes that have been sitting around here for weeks and b) soaking my potatoes in veggie wash so that they will be ready for chopping tonight come dinner preparation. It's the kind of thing I could see myself forgetting to do and then being flustered when I have to slow down the cooking and chopping process to do the more lengthy cleaning prep required over here.

In literary news, I have switched from my 700 page book on Africa to the 550 page book, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles. I look forward to reading the former down the road, but I just could not resist the book endorsed by Alexander McCall Smith and with a forward by Chinua Achebe. Have so far only read the forward because days somehow are so full and fast here, but am excited to read more. And you gotta figure 1250 pages of history and anecdotes is going to find me no expert, but certainly knowing a lot more than I do now and having some better context for taking in the world around me.

Happy weekend to all and here is a day early celebratory wish to my parents: congratulations on 45 years of marriage!!! Your love for each other is inspiring and you created such a warm and loving home for us! Sending tons and tons of love to you from across the miles, on this special day and always!!! Happy Anniversary and thank you for being such a wonderful blessing!

Fun Firsts and Etc

We are fast approaching our two-month anniversary here in Kisumu and the second month has definitely flown by far more quickly than our first month. Among other things, our second month has seen us going on our first excursion and (for the boys and I) eating our first meal of ugali, a traditional Kenyan dish.

FIRST EXCURSION
Last weekend, we joined two of the families in our compound as well as some friends of one of the families, and headed up to Lake Nakuru. We drove through the Rift Valley and one of my favorite sights was the rolling hills and the beautiful green fields full of tea plantations. It actually reminded me a good bit of California's wine country--so beautiful and soothing to the soul to behold!

We stopped at the Kericho Tea Hotel. I will include a link here that shows some photos. It doesn't necessarily do justice to the views of those fields of tea, but it gives a bit of something. And as I have yet to post any photos, it is at least SOMETHING visual.
http://www.shoortravel.com/kerichohotel.html#1


We then proceeded on to our destination: Saroval Lion Hill Game Lodge overlooking Lake Nakuru and itself located in Lake Nakuru National Park. Among the most stunning inhabitants of this park are the hundreds and hundreds of flamingoes that congregate at the lake. There are so many that the lake itself appears to have a pink border all around it. We went on a game drive and one of my favorite sights was watching flamingoes fly. They are very graceful and elegant and when they fly you catch a bit of black that is on the underside of their wings. Up to this point, I had only seen flamingoes fly in Dis.ney's The Lion.King during the Circle of Life opening. I thought the animated birds in flight were stunning even in a cartoon and to see them in real life was a thrill for me.

We saw many wonderful animals, including white rhino, grey rhino, giraffes, buffalo, and baboons. But for some reason, the sight of zebra casually grazing within feet of our vehicle really struck me. Something that looks so exotic so very cavalierly doing its thing made me really FEEL that we were here in Africa. While we saw neither Micah's beloved lion or cheetah on this game drive, we do expect to see many out in the mara next month, so are content to wait for the big cats and happily savor replaying memories of the animals we did see.

Here is a link to our lodge, which includes a bit more information about the park. It was a beautiful, beautiful place. What is not described in the blurb below is the presence of extraordinarily large numbers of very gifted hunters--we encountered a veritable plague of mosquitoes there! They are not the type that carry malaria--just a nuisance. Still and all, we managed to leave our weekend adventure with many happy memories and very few bites!

http://www.sarovahotels.com/lionhill/index.php

FIRST UGALI
Deron returned home from his conference on a Monday evening (detained on runway in Atlanta and, along with 18 others, missed connecting flight to Nairobi in Amsterdam. He was thus sent off to London to take a flight to Nairobi the next day. So, after 11 nights without him home, we resigned ourselves to wait another 30 or so hours. SIDENOTE: While delayed at the Amsterdam airport sorting out how to get to Nairobi, Deron evidently strolled through various shops. Watching him present the boys with presents from the airport made me love a whole new facet of Deron. For Micah, he had picked out a ruler with a magnifying lens and pictures of windmills and tulips on it AND a giant pencil holding colored pencils AND, best of all, an alarm clock shaped like a K.LM cockpit. Micah was delighted and I was touched beyond measure by the whimsical and fun and perfect gifts Deron had so thoughtfully and lovingly selected. Tiras received a cannister with all sorts of Netherland themed pictures, including cows grazing. When turned over, a loud mooing sound emitted from the cannister. This was a giant hit with Tiras and Micah. Sadly for the cannister, Tiras's joy of the moo was eclipsed by the joy of tossing the cannister about and now it is quite silent. I already thought Deron was the greatest ever and fell just that much more in love with him because of the sweet gifts for the boys. Guess what? After the kids were put to bed, he had me come downstairs and there on the table were chocolates for me!) Good grief--that was some giant and rambling parenthetical. Back to the ugali topic.

So, Deron's first night back home, we had our first traditional Kenyan meal as a family. While Deron has been out in the field and here before and is quite well exposed to authentic dining, the rest of the Burton crew hadn't really experienced much Kenyan style cooking. We asked Rose, who is working for us and is wonderful, to cook us something Kenyan and she was excited to make us some ugali sukuma wiki. I will include a link to Wikiped.ia but it is basically a doughy starch made from maize flour and water which is used to wrap around or scoop other foods (much like flat breads in other cultures). Sukuma wiki is a green maybe comparable to collard greens but more grassy tasting. It's a strong taste, but Deron and I in particular enjoyed it. A little sukuma wiki went a long way with the boys. The Ugali, a food you are encouraged to roll up into a ball and then press a little hole into for scooping was a GIANT hit with Micah and quite a hit with Tiras as well, given that he is very much into feeding himself these days and ugali is very user friendly for a new self feeder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugali

READING LIST
My Amazon books have arrived and I am starting with a seven-hundred page book about the history of Africa's fifty years since independence. It's called The Fate of Africa (by Martin Meredith) and while it is going to take me some time to read, I am excited to start learning more background information about Africa!

I also have some memoirs and another big book, Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles by Richard Dowden. Will update with my "reviews" should anyone be interested in doing some reading about Africa. Am also taking reading suggestions. :-)

Surprises

Note: There are a couple new posts that I couldn't put up due to internet being down. See below.

I have had some surprises this week.

Perhaps of greatest import, I was surprised this weekend to find that I have really started to feel at home here in Kisumu. Rather than wondering how long two years here might feel, I suddenly find myself excited that we get at least two years to live here.

Deron has been away for a week and a half attending a conference back in Atlanta. We didn't realize he'd be going to this conference and it was not the most delightful surprise I have ever had. But somewhere between the blues of having to say goodbye to him and this weekend, I started to feel good about functioning here in Kisumu on my own. (on my own, but with a lot of help from friends here!) I think unconsciously I had been sort of existing for Deron to get home from work and for the weekends. Having him gone for an extended time was just the nudge I needed to start making a bit more of a life here. Just simple things, like those morning walks. But the simple things added up and I am a lot more content here!

But that wonderful development achieved--I am so ready and excited to have Deron back. Which brings us to our most recent surprise--Deron's return has been delayed by a day because his flight out of Atlanta was delayed for several hours due to mechanical difficulties and his Nairobi connection was missed. So rather than having Deron in Nairobi tonight and coming home Sunday morning, he will be in London tonight flying to Nairobi tomorrow and flying to Kisumu Monday morning. I hope he isn't too wiped out by this extension of travel mode!

I also had a somewhat funny surprise, courtesy of Micah. I think of it as "The Not So Constant Gardener" incident.

Wednesday afternoon, Micah spotted a hose and asked if he could water plants in our common area. It was fine with the gardener and the guards even helped Micah attach the various hose segments so that he could walk all over the grounds watering plants. I was pleased he was having such a good time and doing something so constructive. I even congratulated myself on being such an easygoing mom and not fussing about him getting wet or getting somewhat muddy clothing. "What a fun mom I am!" thought I. "And what a lovely afternoon this has been for us all."

Cue to some half hour later when I discover muddy handprints on the sheers in our living room. Upon further examination of the muddy sheers, I discover a hose has been shoved through our window. I look down at the floor upon which I am standing and discover a massive puddle of water. Yes, my dear little gardener, at the end of his watering session, evidently thought it would be interesting to see what might happen if he put the hose in our window. In a Curious George episode, the water had filled the house and to such a depth that things floated all over and a person could even swim. What fun to try this out at home!

Cleaning up the mess wasn't so funny and the unsettling notion that Micah was not terribly remorseful about it, but rather, very interested in the result of his experiment and quite possibly apt to repeat it wasn't so funny either. But I gotta say, when the guards and neighbors asked about the hose in our window and I tried to evenly explain what happened, it was a little funny to see Micah's eyes dancing as I talked and then have him burst in with a delighted, "The water went all the way to the TABLE!" And to a person, Micah's taking over the story and being so thrilled by what happened always elicited a laugh. And sensing the sympathy of his audience, Micah would then give them backstory about what he had hoped might happen (enough water for Tiras to swim).

Life with my boys may get messy, but it is certainly not dull.

Tiras and Toilet Tidings (A July 14 Post)

Tiras has discovered the toilet. And by that I am not coyly announcing that my kiddo has precociously potty trained himself as a follow-up to his recent walking achievement. No, I mean that he has discovered that it is big fun to flush a toilet or rattle the handle in an attempt to flush the toilet. Fun like that is bested, of course, by the experience of dropping a toy car in the toilet. And on a truly great day, Tiras has been known to smile at me confidently and then, with lightning speed, swoop his arm downward and scoop up a little toilet water, an action his (perhaps epically dense, given that he was in the same room as a TOILET, an object of obvious awesomeness) mom failed to see coming. I am doing my best to make the latter a one-time life event. Because. Gross!

And, on a somewhat related note to toilets, it turns out the can't miss comedy routine for a nearly 15-month-old continues to be to wiggle around and laugh uproariously during diaper changing time. Flipping to tummy as if in the midst of an Olympic team trial for swiftest rolling over, he will do all in his (impressively formidable) power to thwart my efforts to change his diaper. And did I mention the uproarious laughter? All coming from Tiras. I tend to be smiling through clenched teeth as I get increasingly worn down and as my "No"s and "You need to be still"s are increasingly treated as amusing suggestions to be utterly ignored.

Ahhh (A July 13 Post)

Note: This post was composed and supposed to be posted on July 13. Internet issues delayed the posting. So by "today", I mean July 13. And if you know me at all, you know I need to type this because you know it is driving my Type A little self nuts to have the blog date NOT match the actual date of this post's composition. But I feel a little better with the parenthetical in my blog title. Because historical accuracy for this blog is a matter of paramount import!!! (Ok, that last bit is tongue in cheek. I am neurotic but in a self-aware kind of way.)

Started today with a walk outside with the boys. It was wonderfully morale boosting to be outside moving around and taking in the world and people around us. Micah loves riding our neighbor's little tricycle/big wheel type toy and I love watching him pedal with such purpose and enjoyment. There are lots of pretty flowers and trees to enjoy on our walk along with the various homes that we pass. At one point we heard women talking and when they passed us, I could see that they all had large baskets and containers balanced on their heads. It was such a cool moment because it is such a common sight here but a new sight for me and for the boys. I think walks outside the compound are a must!

Another source of the ahhh is that I found some promising crock.pot recipes online. Food options are different enough that some of my go to dishes are not so much a go. And food prep can be more complicated here, so something as easy as a good old crock.pot is very appealing.

Kid Updates:

Tiras continues to be very active and on the move. It's hard to believe that it has been just a few weeks that he has been walking and that he was a crawler when we arrived. Stages shift so dramatically at this age! He is very playful and the sound of his very merry laughter when wiggling around during a diaper change or an attempt to dress him is one of the happiest sounds I know. He laughs and laughs as if I am in on the joke. He also thinks it is hilarious to feed me and to try and brush his own teeth.

Not a lot of Tiras quotes, of course. He seems to have paragraphs to say, and he does say them. However, at this point, said paragraphs are in his own particular Tirasian dialect. He does say "hello", "goodbye", and "thank you". He is prone to pick up a cell phone or similarly shaped object and say "hello" and then launch into a conversation with an imaginary caller. He also says "no" and "uh uh". Whereas he once upon a time said yes EVERY time he so much as heard the inflection of a questioning tone, be it directed to him or to somebody else, nowadays I can't remember the last time we heard an affirmative response to a query.

Micah has made friends with the neighbor's dogs and is now asking for a dog of his own. Since he was initially skittish around our neighbor's fur babies, it is great to see him so enthusiastic about them.

Micah also gave me some sage advice last night. Sternly delivered as you will see:

Micah: I think you should come to bed at the same time I go to bed.

Me: Replied something about having to get a few things done. This precipitated a very emphatic response.

Micah: You said the same thing last night and you didn't get enough sleep. This is un-ceptable (unacceptable). Now we are going through the same thing all over again today.

I thought about what he had to say and about how I had dragged all through the day and I went ahead and followed Micah's advice and woke up feeling quite wonderful for it!

Nice Moments

Even with Deron away at a conference, and with missing the big Nelson gathering to celebrate my grandfather's 90th, there have been some nice moments of late. In no particular order:

• Tiras had a fussy night and I was worried it might have disturbed Micah's sleep. When he woke up and I asked him if he had had a tough night, he answered that he had slept, "peaceful as a lion". (This example no doubt came to mind so readily because we went back to Impala Park yesterday and he got to see his beloved lion and cheetahs again and the lion was napping quite peacefully. The cheetahs were in repose too, for that matter.)
• On Saturday morning, one of our compound neighbors was heading out with her dogs to go on a walk. We joined her with Tiras in a stroller and Micah on a big wheel type toy. The morning air was cool, the flowers plentiful, and the joyful and exuberant pedalling of Micah a happy sight to behold.
• On Thursday, a wonderful new friend here took me and the boys on a tour of Kisumu wherein we got to see the two main roads and find out where various useful places are located (such as a butcher and a great place for milkshakes, and etc) The best part was our stops to a craft market and to an open air market. At the former I got a few items I really love and have my eye on a few more. At the latter I got all sorts of sweet mangoes and yummy avocadoes and even a couple of butternut squash which I plan to cook for dinner tonight. Simple but good stuff.
• On Wednesday night, same wonderful new friend brought over two other great women and chocolate chocolate chip muffins so I would have company and chocolate to cheer me up on the night of Deron's departure. How thoughtful and great is that?
• On Friday, we had a swim playdate. Seeing Micah joyfully splash around in the water is a happy, happy thing!

These past two weekends have probably been my toughest yet (Fourth of July followed by a Husband Away and a Missed Giant Family Gathering will tend to up the ante on the old homesickness), but there are definitely these moments of grace even in the slumps.

And today we stopped by our neighbor's home to have a playdate with the dogs. Our neighbor's mom is home during the days and it was nice for me and for the boys to get to visit with her.

Every day we get a little more settled. Every time I get out and about, I definitely appreciate being here that much more. We are hoping for a couple of weekend get-aways that don't require a car* and I think that will be a great thing for our morale.

Deron is very busy with work but very, very happy to be right exactly here doing right exactly this. And that is a very good thing indeed!

*Our buyer bid on a car, so the process is moving along. Shipping seems to take a while. Here's hoping we have the car by late August.